THE 'wasteland' that was a blemish on Larkrise Special School is a thing of the past after pupils opened a new sensory garden in its place on Friday.

Over the last year, a dozen pupils, aged 14-19, have been working on creating a sensory garden, with a Butterflies and Bees theme, for the Trowbridge school to enjoy.

Together they have done painting work, researched what plants are best suited to attract insects, gone to garden centres to buy seeds, created and restored bird boxes and bug palaces and created models and mosaics to add texture to the garden.

Finally on Monday, all that hard work paid off when parents and pupils were invited to an afternoon tea event, giving attendees a chance to look around at what had been accomplished.

"The children absolutely love it. It was a wasteland before and now it is just so wonderful. It is hard to believe what used to be there," said teacher Anne Humphreys.

"They have worked so hard putting this together. The 12 pupils that were involved have done a stellar job and we are all very proud of them.

"This project was the vision of Lorraine Suter who, throughout the year, has guided the pupils to gain function skills in horticulture, knowledge and love of their own environment.

"It was lovely showing off the new garden, which got a lot of praise from the visitors."